ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



749 



The number of Roman Catholics in England 

 and Scotland is from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000. Ire- 

 land had, in 1865, 4 ecclesiastical provinces (Ar- 

 magh, Dublin, Cashel, Tuam), 31 archbishops 

 and bishops (exclusive of 5 bishops with no local 

 jurisdiction in Scotland ; 1,070 parishes, 984 

 parish priests, 1,631 administrators, curates, and 

 others (including chaplains and professors, etc., 

 in colleges and schools), 340 regular clergy, 

 total priests (including bishops, private chap- 

 lains, those in asylums, etc.), about 3,120; 73 

 communities of priests, 67 communities of men, 

 189 communities of women. According to the 

 official census of 1861, there were in Ireland 

 4,490,583 Koman Catholics in a total population 

 of5, 764,543. At the election of a new House 

 of Commons, in 1865, 34 Roman Catholics were 

 chosen ; 31 in Ireland, and 3 in England (Sir 

 John D. Acton for Bridgnorth, Lord Edward F. 

 Howard for Arundel, Sir John Simeon for Isle 

 of Wight. Sir John D. Acton received only 

 one majority, and, some error being discovered 

 in fhe count of votes, was unseated by resolu- 

 tion of the House of Commons). 



The agitation arising at the close of the year 

 1864, out of the publication of the "Encycli- 

 cal," of December 8, 1864, subsided soon after 

 the beginning of the new year, without produc- 

 ing any of the collisions with the civil govern- 

 ments that were anticipated. Only in France 

 there was a transient difficulty between the 

 Government, which forbade the bishops to pub- 

 lish the Encyclical, and the bishops who diso- 

 beyed this order. Some of the bishops were 

 censured by the Council of State for having 

 violated the laws of the State, but the Govern- 

 ment refraining from taking any further meas- 

 ures against the bishops, the interest in the 

 controversy soon died out. The Government 

 of Italy entered into negotiations with the 

 Pope on the filling of the vacant episcopal 

 sees, and a reduction of the number of dio- 

 ceses, but no result was obtained. At the elec- 

 tion of a new Italian Parliament in October, 

 that political party which supported the demands 

 of Rome suffered a defeat, not more than half a 

 dozen of its candidates being elected. The Gov- 

 ernment announced its intention to bring in a 

 bill for the total separation of Church and State. 

 In the United States, a difficulty arose in con- 

 sequence of the new State constitution of Mis- 

 souri, which demanded of all clergymen an oath 

 of loyalty to the State Government. The Arch- 

 bishop of St. Louis issued a letter to the. clergy 

 of the State, expressing strong dissatisfaction 

 with the oath, and instructing them, in case 

 the civil power should exact the oath, to in- 

 form him of the "particular circumstances" of 

 their position, in order that he might be able 

 to give them council and assistance. Several 

 priests, who refused to take the oath, were ar- 

 rested, and the difficulty had not been settled 

 at the close of the year. In Mexico, the de- 

 crees of the Emperor Maximilian confirming 

 and ratifying the sales of Church property, and 

 granting religious toleration, called forth re- 



monstrances on the part of the Bishops of Mex- 

 ico and the Pope. The bishops in an addresa 

 to the Emperor denied the authority of the State 

 Government over Church property, and, with 

 regard to religious toleration, declared: "We 

 can see nothing that renders it, not to say ur- 

 gent, but even excusable." The Pope, in a 

 letter to Maximilian, had previously given this 

 advice : 



"Your Majesty is well aware that, in order effec- 

 tively to repair the evils occasioned by the revolu- 

 tion, and to bring back as soon as possible happy 

 days forthe Church, the Catholic religion must above 

 all things continue to be the glory and the mainstay 

 of the Mexican nation, to the exclusion of every other 

 dissenting worship; that the bishops must be per- 

 fectly free in the exercise of their pastoral ministry ; 

 that the religious orders should be reestablished or 

 reorganized, conformably with the instructions and 

 the powers which we have given ; that the patrimony 

 of the Church and the rights which attach to it may 

 be maintained and protected ; that no person may 

 obtain the faculty of teaching and publishing false 

 and subversive tenets ; that instruction, whether pub- 

 lic or private, should be directed and watched over 

 by the ecclesiastical authority; and that, in short, 

 the chains mav be broken which, up to the present 

 time, have held down the Church in a state of depend- 

 ence, and subject to the arbitrary rule of the civil 

 government." 



When, notwithstanding this advice, the Em- 

 peror adhered to his policy, and issued the de- 

 crees above mentioned, the Papal Nuncio was 

 recalled from Mexico. The Emperor of Russia 

 on December 12th (new style 26th) issued a 

 decree, taking the administration of all the rev- 

 enue of the Roman Catholic clergy in the king- 

 dom of Poland, out of the hands of the eccle- 

 siastical authorities, and intrusting it to the 

 Central Commission of the Finances and the 

 Treasury. All the revenue continues to be 

 used for Roman Catholic Church purposes. The 

 dime is not abolished, but made optional with 

 the payer. The salary of the Archbishop of 

 Warsaw is fixed at 24,000 francs. The parish 

 priests are divided into two classes (as in France), 

 those of the first class receiving 2,000 francs, 

 and those of the second 1,600 francs annually. 

 The decree was to take effect on December 20, 

 1865 (new style January 1, 1866). The Arch- 

 bishop of Warsaw still remained in exile at the 

 close of the year. 



Monastic communities are rapidly increasing 

 in the Roman Catholic" Church. The Jesuits, 

 according to an official statement published by 

 the Order, numbered at the close of 1864, 7,728 

 members, being 129 more than in 1863. The 

 Order is divided into 21 provinces, of which 

 four belong to France, five to Germany, Bel- 

 gium, and Holland, two to Spain, five to Italy, 

 one to Mexico, and the other four are distrib- 

 uted in England, Ireland, and the United States. 

 In 1864 there were 1,532 Jesuits employed in 

 foreign missions, being an increase of 242 over 

 the year 1863. The European missions amount- 

 ed to 28 ; the Asiatic, to 296 ; the African, to 

 213 ; the North American, to 276 ; the South 

 American, to 199; the Oceanian, to 55; and 

 15 were on passage. Twenty-five years ago, 



